The party discusses for a while what to do with the captured bandit. Professor Quigley attempts to slow his bleeding using one of Fluffy Fluffy's dead squirrel friends. They take note of his black robes and silver mask and dagger emblem, a symbol the other thieves carry as well. stol emerges from his tent, surveys the death and destruction around him, looks briefly excited about the first real fight of his first real adventure, and then returns to his tent. Eventually they manage to stabilize him, and start asking him questions.
He says he is a member of the thieves_guild, a collection of thieves working in the Capital. However, for some reason he doesn't elaborate on, the thieves have fled the Capital, and now operate outside its walls. The party eventually decides they are done with questions, and (who?) kills him.
The group then packs up and continues their trek north. This time they have better luck with directions, and although Fluffy manages to drop some of their rations into a river, and leave others behind in the camp, they emerge from the eastern end of the forest safely.
They pass a small village to their east, sitting on the edge of a cliff. They elect to continue north, however, and leave it in the distance as they approach a sparsely-populated, rocky area along the road. Other small villages can be seen by the coast in the east, some distance away. They decide to make camp here away from the road for the night.
Some camps were already set up, and as the night progresses, more travelers arrive. During their watch, Lord Cornelius and Halt watch as a purple light illuminates a camp some distance off, then is snuffed out. They decide to go and check out what might be going on.
After they leave, Fluffy, who does not sleep, noticed they're gone and tries to figure out where they went. She tries to bribe a bat using Dave the Average's blood, and then heads off after them.
Dave and Quiggers, the only two remaining in the camp, wake up to find bandits are trying to sneak up to Stol's cart. Quiggers approaches them, literally throws down his gauntlet, and challenges the closest one to a duel. She flees, Quiggers shouts something along the lines of "Come back here you hooligan!", and chases after her. Dave remains to guard the cart.
Meanwhile, Corny and Halt try to sneak into the camp. Corny casts invisibility on Halt, and it appears to succeed. However, when Halt approaches one of the tents, he is detected and a hand with a knife jabs out at him. He falls back as mages emerge from all four tents and point staffs and hands his way. Halt quickly shoots an arrow at the mage with the knife, striking him in the head and killing him. All the remaining mages drop whatever their holding and throw their hands up, shocked and terrified by the murder of their friend.
Quiggers catches up to the thief he was following when two others come from both sides at him. He creates two other illusions of himself who attack the thieves while he attacks the one he was following. All are injured, and the one on his left is killed. He then agrees to let them leave with their lives if they return all the pieces of woodwork they stole. Quiggers concedes them one small wooden squirrel, and then carry their dead friend back into the darkness. Quiggers returns, and while Stol says the squirrel will come out of his pay, he admits it's the least valuable piece in the cart.
Corny steps into the camp, trying to make peace, but something behind him attracts the mages' attention. They pick up their staffs and begin shining and shooting purple light in that direction. Fluffy, who has arrived at the camp by this point, briefly sees what they are shooting at. It is a person, green, flickering, lit as if by its own light, but not lighting any of the environment around it.
Dave and Quiggers, in their own camp, see the flurry of purple light in the distance, and watch as it suddenly stops. Then, at the edge of their camp, they see a person standing there, green and flickering.